Freedom
by Anii Ayers
Summary: What if when the surviving students came back to a world where their fallen friends were remembered? Would they be able to carry on with their lives any differently or would darkness still consume them as they grieve the lives of those they loved? A story full of fluff and a lot of Ayushiki moments! Ayumi x Yoshiki Naomi x Satoshi
1. Chapter 1 - Back from Hell

Chapter 1: Back from Hell

As they ran down the halls of Heavenly Host Elementary, the ground shook beneath them, much as it had many days ago, when they were first taken to that hell. Satoshi Mochida led the way, avoiding holes that appeared randomly on the ground and holding onto his sister, Yuka Mochida, tightly. Naomi Nakashima followed after, sticking close to her crush and helping him up if he tripped over a carcass of one of the many dead students that littered the halls. Ayumi Shinozaki stood behind Naomi, not wanting to stray far from Satoshi in case Nakashima made a move. Yoshiki Kishinuma ran at the back of the group, to make sure that he could protect Ayumi as he had many times in Heavenly Host.

However, four dear members of the group were missing as the school had taken their lives, Seiko Shinohara, Mayu Suzumoto, Morishige Sakutaro and their sensei, Yui Shishido. The survivors moved on quickly through the halls, desperately trying to keep their composure from the onslaught of memories of those who could not go back home, those who would forever feel the pain of death, those who would wander the halls of hell. Though they couldn't forget their friends, they wouldn't let themselves, they knew that if they stopped for a second, stopped to mourn the lives of their friends, they would never leave and be free to live their lives, like their fallen friends would have wanted.

Rain poured down around them as they crashed through the door that led onto the outdoor corridor that connected the two wings of the school together. The ground continued to rumble as they stood in a five point star.

"We made it! All we have to do now is climb over this fence and we're home free!" Satoshi exclaimed, nodding enthusiastically at his friends, who replied with the same enthusiasm. While it didn't show on his face, his mind raced with all the possibilities of what could go wrong. He repeated the same words over and over, almost as if he thought that if he thought it enough, it would come true; please work.

"Sachiko, we beg of you!" Satoshi cried.

"Sachiko we beg of you!" Yuka pleaded.

"Sachiko we beg of you!" Naomi begged.

"Sachiko we beg of you!" Ayumi yelled.

"Sachiko we beg of you!" Yoshiki wailed.

"Sachiko we beg of you!" they said simultaneously, connecting their pieces of the charm together. Suddenly, a white burst of light exploded from the connected pieces of paper, blinding the friends as the floor collapsed beneath them again. Their vision changed from pure white to pure nothing, the darkness enveloping them as they lost consciousness…

"Mmm… ulg… huh?" Naomi murmured, slowly waking up on the floor. As her vision cleared, she stood up from the hard ground and looked around her, spotting her friends lay around her. Satoshi was next to wake up, Ayumi waking soon after, Yoshiki after that.

"Whoa… Are we?" Yoshiki asked, looking around at his new surroundings, realization quickly dawning on him. Satoshi gasped and got up.

"We are… We're home!" Satoshi cried happily, waking up his sister who lay next to him. She sat up sleepily and looked up cautiously, scared that instead of seeing her brother, she would be faced with a ghost child or Kizami, the psychopath who had convinced himself that Yuka was his sister.

"Big brother!" she exclaimed happily, launching herself at him for a hug.

"Yuka!" Satoshi sighed thankfully. Everyone seemed to go quiet, the shock of coming home after five days overwhelming. Naomi spoke up finally.

"We really made it…" she whispered with a smile, a smile that Satoshi had missed so much. Ayumi closed her eyes and fell onto her arms.

"Yuki, thank you so much," the blue haired girl whimpered, thanking her friend who had died decades before at the hands of Sachiko but had been appeased by Ayumi.

And so, the five who survived the ordeal were able to return to Kisaragi Academy. To the real world, in their own time. For a while, they were just so happy to be home, and to be alive, they were overjoyed. But it didn't take long before the grim reality of what happened wiped the smiles off their faces. Ms. Yui… Shinohara… Morishige and Suzumoto. They weren't with them anymore. Heavenly Host had taken away their friends for good, never to return. Seiko could never grope Naomi, Ms. Yui could never tell stories of her youth to Ayumi, Morishige and Suzumoto could never act together again.

The group stood outside the school as the rain stopped pouring. They smiled sadly at each other as they looked down the street, at a street they may have never seen again.

"Well, be careful on your way home, okay?" Ayumi said softly, interrupting the silence that hung in the air. Everyone turned to look at her, smiling at her forever caring attitude that was needed as a class rep.

"Don't… go to school tomorrow. Bring your parents over to my house and we can tell them what happened together, so we have the whole story for them, so don't tell them anything today," Ayumi asked as she looked down at the floor. Her friends nodded. Naomi began to walk left, as her home was a five minute walk that way but Satoshi stopped her by holding onto her arm. The contact set fire to her face so she looked away, to hide the blush.

"N-Naomi?" he began nervously. She looked back up at him, into his warm brown eyes that never ceased to calm her.

"Can I… maybe… walk you home?" he asked quietly, letting go of her arm, sadly, and fiddling with his shirt. Darn, he thought, she probably thinks I'm stupid. Naomi smiled up at him warmly, causing his face to heat up.

"Of course," she replied softly, grabbing onto his hand and tugging him forward, leaning against his arm as they walked away from their friends. Yuka followed after, but stayed behind them a little, allowing big brother his privacy with Naomi.

Ayumi watched them as Naomi held onto Satoshi's hand, waiting for the jealous fire to burn within her but it never came. She frowned in confusion at the lack of feeling she experienced. She wanted to feel jealous but… she just didn't. In fact, she felt happy for them? Her face looked pained, as if she was jealous but she was just confused. However, Yoshiki noticed Ayumi's reaction and, thinking she was upset that Satoshi wasn't holding her hand, turned her away from looking at the pair, snapping her out of her trance.

"Hmm? Kishinuma, what's the matter?" she asked gently, keeping up her caring, class rep personality, even with delinquents like Kishinuma. Although Kishinuma really wasn't selfish or cold-hearted in Heavenly Host, she thought, in fact, he had protected her no matter what happened and was selfless and brave and…

"Oh, well, I was just wondering if I could, uh," he began, scratching the back of his neck, "Walk you home?" Noticing Ayumi's confused expression he clarified what he had meant, even if he hadn't meant it that way.

"It's just, late, you know and I don't want anything bad to happen to you, after we managed to come back from…" he finished quickly, not wanting to bring up that place again. Ayumi felt a twinge of disappointment as he explained his reason but brushed it off. It couldn't mean anything, she like Satoshi, she wasn't disappointed that Kishinuma wasn't walking her home romantically. She knew that Kishinuma couldn't have a romantic bone in his body. He was crude and blunt, just how she liked him… Wait, what?

"Yeah, sure," she agreed, not wanting to think about her friend like that. The two pairs of friends walked home their separate ways, Naomi and Satoshi's silence comfortable, as they were happy with each other's company, while Yoshiki and Ayumi's silence was awkward, Yoshiki contemplating whether he should say anything, Ayumi trying to ignore the question of her feelings towards the blonde who stood beside her.

"So," they both said awkwardly at the same time. Yoshiki blushed and laughed slightly, turning his head away. He scolded himself for being so stupid, he should have just stayed quiet.

"What are you going to tell your parents?" he decided to ask, genuinely curious about the answer. Ayumi raised her hand to her lip, unsure of her answer.

"I'm… not sure. How can I tell them about Heavenly Host without sounding crazy?" she laughed bitterly.

"You?" she asked, turning to face him. He scratched the back of his neck with a sigh.

"I have no parents to tell, they disowned me, remember?" he answered looking down. Ayumi felt guilty for asking him but thought of a question she had wanted to ask for a while but had never felt close enough to him to ask. After Heavenly Host, she felt as if they had grown to know each other better and she was sure he would be fine with her question.

"Oh yeah. Why did your parents disown you?" she asked quietly, not wanting to be rude. Yoshiki turned to look at her with a frown.

"Well, after my little sister was born, she was given their undivided attention for years so… so I started smoking and getting into fights so that they would give me their attention and it kind of backfired. They kicked me out," he answered calmly. Ayumi felt even worse. She had assumed that he had been kicked out for something much worse than him just being immature and trying to retain a parent's love.

"I'm sorry," she replied quietly.

"Nah, don't be. The man who owns the music store saw me on the street and gave me a job and let me live in the store until I could afford an apartment. I don't mind living alone, even if it gets lonely sometimes," he shrugged off some of Ayumi's guilt. She still felt oddly sad for him. At least she would get to go home to a family that would miss her, Kishinuma would go home to an empty apartment, with no one to help make life easier for him after such a traumatic experience!

They walked back in silence the rest of the way, but it was more of a comforting silence, as if they were listening to each other's problems without having to explain why. By the time Ayumi reached her house, she actually felt saddened that Kishinuma had to go back to his home. She didn't want him to be alone, she wanted to be a good friend and stay with him. However, she knew she couldn't do that. Her family must be worried sick, after all, they had been gone for days.

"This is it," Ayumi said sadly, stopping outside of her home. Yoshiki looked a little sad too, but Ayumi ignored it, sure that it was just her imagination.

"Oh," he sighed, putting his hands into his pockets nonchalantly. Ayumi was suddenly reminded of another question she had been meaning to ask him.

"Kishinuma, why did you protect me in… that place?" Ayumi asked, moving subtly closer to him. His face reddened and he looked slightly nervous.

"It's because you saved me," he said nervously.

"What? How did I save you? All I did was be rude to you when you only tried to help!" she exclaimed, realizing that what she had said was very much true.

"After my parents kicked me out and I got a job at the music store, I found it hard to concentrate in school, I always had to be honest. In fact, I was considering doing something rash to get me kicked out. When the opportunity came along, when that teacher was hassling me, I was going to take it and hit him but…" he began slowly, not wanting to carry on.

"But you came and stopped me. You cared so much for someone you didn't know and that amazed me. It amazed me that someone did care, they cared enough to convince me to stay. You saved me from leaving school, a decision I would have regretted my entire life. You gave me a chance to have a future," he finished, looking down at his feet. He wanted to add the last part but he couldn't, he wanted to tell her that ever since that day he had loved her and that was why he protected her but he didn't.

Ayumi stared at him as he looked down so uncomfortably. She had never known that she had such an impact on his life. It almost moved her to tears that he thought of her so kindly after all she had done and said to him, not just in Heavenly Host but before. That was why she stood up on her toes and kissed him on the cheek, to say thank you for all he had done and thank you for believing in her so much.

Yoshiki felt Ayumi walk closer to him so he lifted up his head, expecting to get slapped again. He was shocked, if not happy, when she stood on her toes and kissed his cheek lightly. It took all of his will power to not pull her closer and kiss her properly, but he managed not to. Ayumi wrapped her arms around Yoshiki and rested her head underneath his head. He tensed under her grip but calmed enough to pull her closer, his touch igniting a fire Ayumi didn't know existed in her.

Suddenly, Ayumi became very aware of how she stood, clung onto Kishinuma. She pulled away awkwardly, looking down as her faced heated up. Why was she unexpectedly like this? What was going on? Was she ill or something?

"Thanks, I-I needed that," she said quietly. Yoshiki wished she hadn't let go of him, he liked it when she gave him a way to touch her.

"Heh, no problem," he said, scratching his neck again like it was a nervous tick. Ayumi smiled gratefully at his response.

"Anyway, I should probably go inside," she laughed, walking backwards. She was about to turn around when she tripped over a rock on the ground. Great, she thought, waiting for her body to hit the ground. When it didn't she opened her eyes to see Kishinuma holding her above the floor with a worried look in his eyes.

"Shinozaki, are you okay?" he asked worriedly, still holding her in his arms. She continued to look up at him, her eyes unfocused as she noticed his features as if she was seeing them for the first time. His eyes seemed clearer, his features chiselled, his hair scruffy but good-looking. Oh no no no, she panicked, realising where her thoughts were heading, pushing them away when she realised she liked where they were heading.

Yoshiki, noticing her panicked, unfocused expression, pulled her back up but kept her in his arms, oblivious to her real emotions. All his embarrassment faded as he held her close, just thankful that she didn't hit the ground and hurt herself, but Ayumi wasn't hurt so she was very focused on how warm she felt when she was so close to him, how safe she felt in his arms. She looked up at him but found herself looking at his lips very intently. They looked so soft and she was sure that it would be nice to kiss him… No, stop!

He saw her focusing on something so he followed her vision to his… lips? Did she want to kiss him maybe? He leaned down very slightly, knowing his actions would very possibly ruin any sort of friendship they had but he didn't care. Unless she protested he would carry on.

"No, stop!" Ayumi accidentally said out loud, trying to stop her thoughts from heading in the direction of kissing, not realizing that Yoshiki took her reaction as something aimed at himself. He pulled away from her and looked down, embarrassed at himself for even trying to do something like that. He knew that Ayumi liked Satoshi, he knew because it hurt him every day just knowing that.

"I'm sorry," he said, turning and walking away from an even more confused Ayumi.

"See you at school, class rep," he said, waving goodbye. Ayumi smiled back at him, still confused at why he had apologised to her and then left. When he was gone, she leaned against the wall of her home, breathing in and out to calm herself. Had she really been thinking about kissing Kishinuma? What had brought that about? She laughed at herself, opening her front door absentmindedly, forgetting that she had been missing for five days.

"Ayumi!" her mother cried, rushing at her daughter and bringing her into a hug. When they broke apart, her mother noticed how tired she looked and the blood and dirt that coated her uniform and how messy her hair looked.

"Ayumi, where have you been? You've been missing for days and we didn't know where you or your friends were and your teacher went missing as well and we were worried that maybe she did something to your class and now you're back and there's blood on you and dirt and what the heck happened, darling?" her mother wept pacing back and forth, a wild look in her eyes.

"Honey, what's going on?" a male voice could be heard from another room. Ayumi's father walked in, his eyes red from tears shed for his daughter's well-being. He saw Ayumi stood in front of the door covered in muck and made a noise of joy as he ran over to her, pulling his wife and daughter into a hug.

"Okay, we are overjoyed that you are back but, seriously though, where have you and your friends been?" he asked, pulling away but still keeping his hand on Ayumi's back. Ayumi sighed and looked distant.

"I'll tell you tomorrow, I really need some sleep," Ayumi started, telling her parents to invite over the parents of her dead friends so that they could have an explanation. Mr and Mrs Shinozaki eventually gave in and allowed their daughter some sleep. As she walked up the stairs to go to her bedroom, she turned and smiled at them.

"Make sure everyone is here tomorrow at nine in the morning. We have a lot of explaining to do…"


	2. Chapter 2 - A lot of Explaining to Do

**Just a warning, in this chapter I basically explain what happened in Tortured Souls very badly. I have read the manga, watched the anime and watched the full game be played so my brain can't remember what really happened in much detail so, if I get a bit wrong, I'm sorry!  
I wrote this chapter as a description of what you already know for anyone who hasn't ever seen Corpse Party so feel free to skip when they start explaining.**

Chapter 2: A lot of Explaining to Do

_We were finally home! I was so happy to be back that I didn't even think of Seiko. I walked home and snuck inside so that my parents let me sleep without attacking me with questions. When I woke up in the morning, I went downstairs to have breakfast, preparing myself for my mum and dad to ask me a bunch of questions that I wasn't allowed to answer._

_"Oh, morning Naomi, I didn't hear you come in last night," Dad said calmly, reading the newspaper as if I hadn't been gone for five days. I looked at my parents in disbelief._

_"I needed sleep. I've been gone for five days," I said._

_"No, you were at the cultural festival yesterday with your friends, Shinozaki, Mochida, Kishinuma," Mum said, shaking her head._

_"And Seiko!" I added. My parents looked at me strangely._

_"Seiko? Who's Seiko?" Dad asked. I shook my head._

_"No! No, you know Seiko. She's my friend! We've been friends for years, how can you not remember her?" I cried, tears rolling down my cheek._

_I opened my eyes to find myself in a bathroom. I was stood in front of a stall. I felt myself push open the door. I couldn't control my body._

_"Naomi!" a girl cried from behind me. I whirled around and picked up the girl. She had brown hair that curled at the end and had brown eyes. I pushed her into the stall and could finally see her face._

_"Seiko!" I cried, lifting up the girl and putting her on a bucket._

_"I missed you so much, I'm so sorry we fought, let's make up, please," I carried on._

_"We need to leave, if we stay here then I'm going to be taken over by the darkening and I'm going to…" I trailed off, looking up to see a noose tied around her neck. I gasped and went to pull it off her but my leg moved and kicked away the bucket she stood on. Seiko started to choke and bleed and I stood, looking up at her, trying so hard to help but I couldn't move._

_"Seiko…" I cried, burying my face in her hair, as she was suddenly on the floor, dead next to me._

Naomi woke up in tears, quietly sobbing in her room until morning. Carefully, she got up and went downstairs to have breakfast, preparing herself for her mum and dad to ask her a bunch of questions that she wasn't allowed to answer. She stopped, remembering that this was exactly how her dream played out, a dream where nobody could remember Seiko. Seiko…

Suddenly, her mother bumped into her, her eyes widening as she saw her daughter for the first time in five days.

"Naomi!" she cried, wrapping her arms around Naomi, almost squeezing the life out of her.

"Where have you been? You've been missing for five days! We called the police and everything," her mother gushed. Naomi sighed, thankful that her dream hadn't been a premonition of what was to come.

Naomi walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl of cereal. She hadn't eaten during her time at Heavenly Host and had managed to supress the hunger but now she was back, she was starving and desperate to eat. Her mother followed Naomi into the kitchen and took the bowl off her.

"No eating until you tell me where you've been!" she warned.

"Mum, I haven't eaten in five days, please," Naomi begged, holding out her hand for the bowl to be given back to her. Her mother's eyes softened but she didn't give the bowl back.

"I'll make it for you. Sit down and tell me what happened to you," Natsumi, her mother, decided. Naomi sighed but sat down at the table. She explained that she couldn't say anything yet but they would go to Ayumi's to be told at nine. Natsumi accepted the answer, confused at why she couldn't be told anything straight away. Natsumi sighed, handing Naomi her cereal. Her stomach ached for food. Naomi ate very quickly and by the time her mother came back into the room, she was starting her second bowl.

"Okay, let me finish this and I'll go get dressed for then," Naomi replied and continued to eat.

* * *

Meanwhile, over in the Mochida household, the same sort of conversations were being had.

"No, I told you, we can explain later, over at Ayumi's," Satoshi sighed, feeling like it was the hundredth time he had explained this. Yuka clung to him, scared that her parents were fighting with her big brother. Miho, his mother, and Hiro, his father, sighed and gave in to their son's demands, just happy, more than anything, that they finally had their children back, safe and sound.

"Okay, son, what time do we need to leave again?" Miho breathed, holding her head in her hands. She was tired. She had been awake for a lot of the five days that her son had been missing, much like the other mothers of the other children who had gone missing.

"We need to be there for nine," Satoshi clarified. He was already fully dressed and ready to go, having woken up early from nightmares. Yuka, however, had slept like a log, from what Satoshi knew, and was still in her pyjamas. Yuka had lied to her brother though. Her sleep was filled of nightmares of Sachiko, the three ghost children and Kizami.

"Fine," Hiro sighed, walking out of the room to get ready.

* * *

Ayumi spent her morning preparing herself for her guests. She found multiple cuts and scratches on herself as she showered, then she had to put plasters on the worse ones. This led to her sister spotting the cuts…

"Ayumi," Hinoe smiled before she spotted the scratches that covered her sister's legs and arms. Hinoe sensed otherworldly energy pouring out of Ayumi's wounds and automatically sensed that some sort of spirit had caused them to be.

"Tell me about it later, with your friends," Hinoe nodded, walking back out of the room to give her sister some privacy.

Ayumi ran her hand through her hair and sighed. She couldn't even remember what had created the cuts. She finished getting dressed and ready at about quarter to nine and spent fifteen minutes sat awkwardly in the living room with her father, Ayato, her mother, Asuka and her sister. Ayato and Asuka were desperate for answers and were very impatient while Hinoe stayed calm, knowing that whatever Ayumi needed to say wasn't anything that could be rushed. Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Ayumi got up.

"I'll get it!" she said, quickly running to the door before someone else could. She couldn't explain her reaction but she had a feeling…

"Kishinuma! Come in," she exclaimed, opening the door to see Yoshiki stood before her with a confident smirk. He moved closer towards her to come in, but because the door led into a very small corridor, he ended up pressed against Ayumi as she tried to shut the door. After managing to shut the door, she turned, suddenly realizing the way they stood, very close together.

"Uh," she stuttered, looking away in embarrassment after feeling her face redden. Yoshiki smiled inwardly at her reaction, shocked that he could invoke such a response from her. He stepped to the left to give her space to breathe. She looked back up at him in thanks but forgot to look down, which meant that Yoshiki was given the perfect opportunity to look at her for a long period of time. She was so beautiful out of her uniform, or in it, he thought. She had forgotten how stunning his sharp, grey eyes were. After looking up at him, she had accidentally locked eyes with him and found it hard to look away, as if his eyes were pits that she loved falling into…

All of a sudden, the door knocked, snapping the two out of their staring contest. Ayumi blushed and opened the door to see the Mochida Family and the Nakashima Family stood next to each other at the doorway.

"Come in, everyone," Ayumi said, pushing Kishinuma into the living room so that everyone could come through. It took a while to get six people through the tiny corridor but, eventually everyone was there.

"Okay, so we're waiting for… Mayu, Sakutaro and Seiko's family and then we can explain," Ayumi said as everyone sat down in the room. Thank goodness they had a large living room as there was going to be twenty people there in total.

The doorbell rang again; Ken'ichi and Yukie, Mayu's father and mother, came in. The doorbell rang again; Shoichirio and Kumiko, Morishige's father and mother, came in. The doorbell rang again; Yuutaro, Seiko's father, came in. Naomi couldn't look at Yuutaro, after all, she had killed his daughter. Eventually, all of the parents, fourteen people in total, were sat on one half of the room while the five survivors sat on the other, Yuka and Naomi next to Satoshi, Ayumi next to Yoshiki and Naomi. The parents of the dead friends asked where their children were and every family member in the room started to cry but Satoshi calmed them all down.

"On Friday, after the culture festival, we had to stay behind to tidy up," he began, leaving the story open for others to continue.

"I asked if everyone wanted to do a charm that I found on the internet… that would keep us friends forever, as Mayu was leaving and we wanted to cheer her up," Ayumi added, looking down. She burst into tears and mumbled about how it was all 'her fault.' Yoshiki calmed her down and carried on with the story.

"We did the charm as it was on the internet, all of us did. Ms Yui, Satoshi, Yuka, Suzumoto, Morishige, Shinozaki, me, Nakashima and Shinohara…" he said quietly, not wanting to cry in front of Ayumi.

"Seiko…" Naomi moaned, Satoshi pulling her into a hug.

"So after we pulled apart the pieces of the paper doll, like the charm said, there was an earthquake. A giant hole appeared on the ground and we all fell through," Satoshi continued with a blank look on his face.

"When I woke up, I had injured my ankle, and Seiko was with me. We had found ourselves in an old elementary school called Heavenly Host in the middle of a forest," Naomi said. All the adults gasped at the mention of the old school.

"But, that place was demolished many years ago, are you sure you were there?" Natsumi asked. The five friends nodded sadly.

"Anyway, Seiko and I went looking for the entrance to the school so that we could leave but when we found it… it wouldn't open. It was like a decoration on the wall. There was no way to leave through it," Naomi added, earning concerned looks from everyone in the room. There was mutters of 'how awful' and 'poor kid' but Naomi ignored it, carrying on with her tale.

"My ankle had gotten worse so we went to the infirmary where Seiko made a makeshift splint for it. She told me to rest while she went off to look for Yuka, as we heard her voice in the halls," Naomi continued. The Mochida's were paying very close attention now that their daughter's name was mentioned.

"But, it couldn't have actually been her, thinking about it, as we all found out later on, at different points, that we weren't in the same dimension. We were in the same school in different closed spaces," Naomi added. Hinoe nodded her head in understanding while everyone else tilted their heads in confusion.

"After Seiko left me in the infirmary, the walls started to leak blood and this black, shadowy figure attacked me. I went to leave but the way out was covered in hair so I had to use a lighter and some rubbing alcohol I found to burn my way out. It was the most scared I had been in my life then, since then, I've been scared a lot worse," she whispered, a distant look in her eyes.

"I was so scared and so lost in myself that when Seiko showed up again, I-I snapped. I shouted at her for leaving me and I couldn't apologise after. My throat closed up when I tried to. I can't even remember what I said to her. She ran off and left me, I had said some truly awful things, I think I told her to go away," Naomi cried, closing her eyes. She was going to struggle with the next part.

"The next thing I remember was waking up near the girls toilets. I found myself draw to a specific stall and when I opened it," Naomi couldn't go on. She looked up at Yuutaro to see him scared. He wasn't sure what came next but he was certain he wouldn't like it.

"When I opened it, I saw a rope attached to a bar above the toilet. There was a noose on the end of the rope and in the noose was… was Seiko!" Naomi cried, bursting into uncontrollable tears.

"I tried to get her down but I went into shock, I was so so terrified that I would lose her. I found a bucket and stood on it to get her down but it was rusted so I fell through and ended up accidently pulling her down with me. When I looked up, she was, she was dead and I didn't know how to go on…" Naomi sobbed. Yuutaro too began to sob and called out his daughter's name.

"When I woke up, I was with Yuka. She needed to go to the bathroom so we looked around for one. Every toilet we found was broken somehow. We eventually found an outdoor area that led onto the second wing of the school. A ghost girl in a red dress-" Satoshi said but Miho interrupted him.

"Ghost girl?" she cried, shaking a little.

"Oh yeah. Well, we aren't the first children to go to Heavenly Host…" Satoshi explained about the other children that had died there that had to feel the pain of death every day and live as a ghost in the school.

"So the girl in the red dress pretended to help Yuka but the second I left them alone, I was knocked out and the girl tried to kill Yuka," Satoshi continued.

"When I ran away from the girl towards the second wing where big brother was, big brother wasn't there. I ran away from Morishige when he tried to kill me and-" Yuka cried but Kumiko stopped her.

"Morishige tried to kill you!" she exclaimed. Yuka nodded.

"Umm, well, you see Miss Sakutaro, the school kind of made Morishige go… insane, especially after he found out about Mayu…" Satoshi said, trying to calm Kumiko and Shoichirio.

"Yeah, so I ran away from Morishige and ran into a man that seemed nice, Yuuya Kizami," Yuka said, hatred seeping into her voice when she said his name.

"He helped me and when Morishige found us he… he wasn't very nice. He stabbed Morishige and Morishige died," Yuka cried, oblivious to the emotional turmoil she was creating for the Sakutaro family.

"I was scared of Kizami and tried to run away but he pushed me over and I wet myself and he kept calling himself big brother but he wasn't my big brother! I managed to get away because the girl in the red dress saved me but while I was in the bathroom, there was an earthquake. I then left the bathroom and wandered around looking for big brother. I must have fell asleep because I woke up without my shoes. The girl in the red dress came up to me and kept laughing and she was really scary. I think I fell asleep again after that," Yuka carried on but Satoshi interrupted.

"Anyway, when I woke up I was in a dark room with a girl called Naho. She was dead too but didn't glow blue like the other ghosts. She told me to go to the one who occupies my thoughts and then I woke up again in the first wing of the school. I found Naomi in the toilets but she was… hanging herself too. I saved her somehow and we then went to try and find Yuka," Satoshi said.

"I must have dropped my student ID along the way as Ayumi found it later in the halls," Naomi added, recovering a little.

"We eventually found Shinozaki and Yoshiki," Satoshi finished, all eyes turning to them.

"When we woke up, Ms Yui was with us but she went to find everyone else. She didn't come back after a while so we went to look for her but we didn't find her. We did find someone though, Naho Saenoki. Earlier, when we were looking for Ms Yui, we found out that four children were kidnapped and murdered by the son of the principal of the school. Three of the four died and one survived. Naho told us that to leave we had to get the killer of the three original children to repent his sins. She gave us a doll that belonged to the killer, Yoshikazu Yanagihori, and it spoke and said it was sorry," Yoshiki started.

"We found Mayu in the infirmary, chatting with two dead girls. One girl had her head slowly and methodically removed and the other had her eye stabbed out and her tongue cut out. They were two of the three children that the principal's son killed," Ayumi said emotionlessly, as if she was reading aloud from a book.

"We told her to get away from them but she didn't listen so we showed the doll to the ghosts. The ghosts reacted violently to say the least. They picked up Mayu and left the infirmary with her. They flew her down the corridor at a high speed and her body hit the wall and… exploded. She died," Ayumi finished quietly.

Yukie and Ken'ichi wept silently, feeling as if it was there fault for having to move. Hinoe and Natsumi comforted them the best they could. The parents of the dead children wept while Yoshiki continued the story awkwardly.

"Well, we figured out that we also needed to return the pieces of themselves that the killer took from them; their tongues. The doll told us where to go and we found the tongues in little bags. After giving the tongues back to their rightful owners, an earthquake started and Shinozaki and I passed out," Yoshiki explained. The parents, though weeping, seemed to be engrossed in the story, as if it was more of a tale that a recount of real events.

"When we woke up, we were back in the classroom at school. Yuki, the eldest of the girls that Yanagihori killed, showed up in this world and thanked us for appeasing her but told us it wasn't enough. She could only get Kishinuma and I back with what we had done. I asked why and… Yuki showed me why," Ayumi began, but she didn't want to relive her experience of being killed.

"Yuki showed me the memory of her getting killed, as if I was living it in the moment. It was awful. I was blindfolded and had to listen to the constant snip, snip, snip of rusted scissors and the screams of the children as the killer cut off their tongues, or heads in Tokiko's case. Eventually, the killer got around to me. They untied my blindfold and when I looked up into the face of my killer, I didn't see the face of Yanagihori, I looked into the face of the girl in the redress, the kidnapped child that survived, Sachiko Shinozaki," Ayumi finished dramatically. Every adult in the room gasped, shocked at the revelation.

"But, how could a child do that? How could she kidnap three children?" Yuutaro asked.

"It's a long story. On the day of her seventh birthday, Sachiko went to see her mother, Yoshie Shinozaki, after school as her mother worked as a nurse in the school. While heading up to the third floor, she witnessed the principal, Takamine Yanagihori, push her mother down the stairs after his attempt to rape her, thus snapping her neck and killing her. Afraid of Sachiko telling someone about what he did, Takamine chased her through the school and captured her, strangling her to death over the corpse of her mother. Unable to find peace after being killed in such a brutal, heartless manner, Sachiko's spirit remained in the school. At some point, she began infiltrating Takamine's thoughts, driving him to madness. He, believing she might still be able to tell others about him killing Yoshie, cuts out her tongue to prevent her from speaking out about it. Some 20 years later, Sachiko gained a physical form. She used Yoshikazu, Takamine's son and teacher at the school, who, like his father, was driven to madness, to capture children for her to kill," Ayumi explained clearly, almost as if she had taken it from the wiki…

"Wait, Yoshie and Sachiko Shinozaki? I'm fifty percent sure that we're related to them, Ayumi!" Ayato said, raising the eyebrows of everyone in the room.

"How?" Ayumi asked.

"Well, my mother's, mother's, sister's daughter was called Yoshie Shinozaki and her daughter was called Sachiko," Ayato explained.

"So… Sachiko is like my cousin?" Ayumi asked.

"Sort of!" Ayato clarified. Ayumi looked disgusted so Yoshiki decided to carry on the story.

"After Shinozaki saw Yuki's memory, we came back to Heavenly Host and found Nakashima's ID. We then found Satoshi and Nakashima, as the closed spaces were weakened and we were able to come back to their closed space," Yoshiki said.

"We told each other what we had been through up until then. Shinozaki and Yoshiki warned us of Sachiko and told us that we needed to get her to express remorse for what she had done. We then split up to find Yuka, Ms Yui and a way to get Sachiko to express regret," Satoshi enlightened.

"Big brother found me and I had a tape. We watched it and found out that Naho killed her sensei, Kibiki Kou before she died," Yuka added. Satoshi nodded.

"We opened the closet in the room and found their bodies along with a ladder that went up into the girls' bathroom," Satoshi said.

"Meanwhile, we destroyed Naho by telling her that she killed Kibiki, the man she loved," Ayumi said, her eyes flickering up to Yoshiki, quick enough for no one to notice, but Yoshiki did.

"It turned out that Naho was the one that posted the blog post on how to do the Sachiko charm but she purposefully told people that the wrong way was the right way, so that people like me would be sent there, as test subjects for her dear Kibiki," Ayumi smiled bitterly.

"We then found Ms Yui but the ground beneath us started collapsing and she fell, but managed to hold on to the ledge. She told us to go and leave her before we could fall," Yoshiki added, stopping before he cried. Ms Yui had always seen him as another student, not as a no-good delinquent like many teachers did.

"Long story short, we all went down to the basement of the school after we found out about Yoshie and Sachiko's death and found Sachiko's body. A good Sachiko appeared in a white dress and we reminded her that her mother wouldn't want her killing people. We must have gotten through to her as both Sachiko's stopped what they were doing and listened to us. We gave her back her tongue and a black cat plushie that her mother got her for her birthday and she disappeared," Satoshi said.

"We ran out of the school onto the outdoor area and did the charm correctly," Ayumi continued.

"There was a flash of white light," Yoshiki added,

"We lost conscienceness," Satoshi said.

"And woke up back in school, in our own world and time," Naomi finished, the five children looking up at the fourteen shocked grown-ups, who just sat in silence, completely distraught that their children had to go through such an awful experience.

"Say something," Ayumi asked softly, looking directly at her mother and father.

"I wouldn't believe you but… that was too thought out of a story to be fake," Ayato said quietly, not wanting to cry in front of the children.

"I wish it wasn't true. We all wish that so much," Ayumi cried.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Kiss

Chapter 3: The Kiss

While the parents discussed their children and their time in Heavenly Host, Ayumi took her four friends upstairs, so they didn't have to listen to the constant reminders of their fallen friends.

"Shinozaki, Yuka needs the bathroom," Satoshi sighed.

"First door on the left," Ayumi said helpfully, letting Satoshi go with his sister.

Ayumi opened the door to her room, expecting Naomi and Kishinuma to go in but only Kishinuma did. Ayumi looked around the corridor but couldn't see her.

"Kishinuma, where's Naomi?" Ayumi asked, sitting down on her bed next to Kishinuma.

"Oh, I think she followed Satoshi to the bathroom," Yoshiki replied, laughing slightly.

"Those two," Ayumi sighed, giggling at how attached they were to each other. Yoshiki frowned at her composed reaction. He thought that Ayumi liked Satoshi and didn't want Nakashima getting friendly with him but… it seemed almost as if she was completely fine with it.

"I thought… never mind," Yoshiki mumbled, not sure if he should bring up her feelings in case she remembered them. He wanted her to be happy but he still wanted her to be happy with him.

Ayumi looked at him, confused at why he looked confused.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," Ayumi said, catching Yoshiki's interest. His head snapped up to her so fast that it actually hurt.

"Ow," he said, while Ayumi struggled not to laugh at him. When he recovered, he tilted his head.

"Why are you sorry? I'm the one that should be apologizing," he said. Ayumi felt even more confused.

"For what? I'm the one that fell over, is there something you're not telling me," she asked. She saw his face redden and smiled.

"There is, isn't there!" she squealed, pushing Yoshiki playfully, only deepening his blush.

"No, I thought there was but, it turns out there wasn't," he said semi-sadly, turning to face Ayumi, the blush gone just as quickly as it had appeared.

Ayumi smiled and was about to say something else when she accidently looked into his sharp, metallic eyes again. She cursed herself as she couldn't look away, no matter how hard she tried. It was like she was falling and she couldn't stop but she didn't even want to. It was nice to fall, it felt safe and calm, like there would never be any problems ever again, as long as she kept falling, as long as she kept staring into his eyes. It was an addicting feeling.

Yoshiki was having a similar problem. He felt like maybe he should say something but she seemed to be staring into his eyes. It was new and exciting for him, he could look at her and it wouldn't be weird or awkward because she was doing it too. She might not have been looking at him the same way he was looking at her, admiring her eyes, her nose, her lips, her entire being, but he didn't mind as long as she was there. He could swear that she was moving closer to him and his eyes widened a fraction. She was unbelievably enticing.

Feeling her body move closer to him, she decided to test her feelings towards him. She wanted to see if it was just a friendship between them, to see if maybe it was something more. Ayumi wasn't one hundred per cent sure that he liked her but she didn't see him objecting as she closed her eyes and brought her lips up to his lips. He stayed still for a moment and she panicked, worried that he didn't like her but he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She felt fireworks explode within her from his touch and from the kiss. His lips were unbelievably soft and warm. Ayumi felt his tongue beg for entrance and she complied, opening her mouth so he could taste her and so she could taste him.

Yoshiki heard a slight moan escape her lips and added fire to the kiss, quickly switching from a romantic, tender kiss to a passionate, fiery one. He pulled her closer to him, as if he was trying to make their separate bodies one. She was enjoying this a lot more than she should have if she didn't like him so he lowered his hands very slightly from her back to her hips.

When she felt his hands slide down lower, she ran her hands through his hair, still kissing him with fervour. Her mind was numb from unexpected happiness and she couldn't stop herself even if she wanted to from being pushed down onto the bed.

"We're back-uh?" Satoshi said, re-entering the room with Naomi and Yuka.

Yoshiki heard someone come in and broke free of the haze that had clouded his senses. He jumped off Ayumi as she sat up and looked around, her eyes glassy. He felt awful for having taken advantage of Ayumi when she was clearly not thinking straight. Before she could accuse him of doing exactly that, he moved past his friends at the doorway and ran down the stairs, leaving the house as Ayumi's parents were about to go check on the friends.

Ayumi felt oddly disappointed when Yoshiki had stopped kissing her and couldn't understand why he had stopped. She hadn't heard Satoshi come in the room. Looking around to see what dared to distract her while she was having such an enjoyable time with Yoshiki, she spotted her friends stood in the doorway. She felt her face heat up, realizing that they must have seen her kissing Yoshiki. Suddenly, she realized that she had been kissing Kishinuma and had been enjoying it? She couldn't remember who started it or, more importantly, if she had!

As Kishinuma left the room, she sat up and lowered her head. Naomi looked at her with wide eyes and came into the room while Satoshi and Yuka followed after Kishinuma.

"Um, class rep? Are you okay?" Naomi asked timidly. Ayumi looked up.

"I don't know," she replied after a while. She honestly wasn't sure. Ayumi was getting all of these feelings for Yoshiki, not gradually but very suddenly. Or maybe it was gradual but she hadn't noticed until they got back from Heavenly Host. She really wasn't sure of her feelings or why they were changing so suddenly but one thing was for sure, Yoshiki had always protected, he had always stood by her, he had always been selfless and brave and everything she had liked in Satoshi, but she just hadn't noticed, as she had constantly been fawning over Satoshi, someone who didn't even possess the qualities she thought he had.

"So… did you kiss him back?" Naomi asked suddenly, excitement in her voice. Ayumi's face heated up as she remembered that she did. She nodded, earning a squeal from Naomi.

"I think I might… Like him?" Ayumi whispered, bringing her hand up to her mouth in thought. Naomi smiled at her friend. She knew that Kishinuma liked her, it was very obvious in Heavenly Host, so it was nice to see Ayumi reciprocating his feelings. It was something happy to focus on so that she wouldn't go mad from the pain of losing Seiko…

* * *

Satoshi chased after his friends when he left the house. It was obvious he was going back to his apartment so he followed him back there, dropping Yuka off at home on the way. Yuka was a little confused at what Shinozaki and Yoshiki were doing, as they were lay on each other kissing very heavily. Satoshi dismissed her question, telling her that he was going to find out. He pulled up outside of Yoshiki's place, getting out and hurrying in. Satoshi walked up two flights of stairs to get to his apartment. He decided to knock on the door instead of just going in. The door opened after a minute.

"Hmm? Oh, hey Satoshi," Yoshiki said calmly. Satoshi barged past him and walked straight in.

"What the hell happened?" Satoshi asked, throwing his arms up dramatically. Yoshiki shrugged and scratched the back of his neck.

"Umm, Shinozaki and I got a bit carried away," he shrugged, sitting down on the sofa.

"A bit? You two looked like you were about to have sex or something!" Satoshi exclaimed, his face red from embarrassment.

"No, it's nothing like that," Yoshiki replied. He was trying to calm his friends down. Satoshi sat down next to his friend and sighed.

"Seriously though, what happened?" Satoshi asked again. Yoshiki frowned and ran his hands through his blonde hair.

"I don't really know. One second we're just sat, not kissing, but then she got closer to me and put her arms around my neck and kissed me. The next thing I knew, I had pushed her further down on the bed and you came in," Yoshiki sighed, remembering how disappointed he had been when Satoshi cam in the room and interrupted them.

"I feel really guilty, like I took advantage of her when she was in an emotional state from telling everyone about our time in Heavenly Host," he mumbled.

Satoshi started to laugh, for some reason. Yoshiki looked up at him, confusion painted across his face, which only made Satoshi laugh harder.

"What's so funny?" Yoshiki asked crudely.

"Isn't it obvious?" Satoshi said between chuckles. His friend shook his head bewilderedly.

"I'll have to ask Naomi what she got out of Shinozaki, but I think it's quite clear that she took advantage of you!" Satoshi laughed, getting up to go.

"And how did she do that?" Yoshiki said. Satoshi turned to face him.

"From what you've told me, she started it so you couldn't have been taking advantage of her really," Satoshi explained, heading out the door.

Yoshiki looked down at the floor, thinking about what Satoshi said and how it was kind of true. Only kind of. He still shouldn't have done it, even if it had delighted him to taste her lips and to be so close to her. He felt his face heat up as he thought about their kiss. It had been pretty amazing, to him at least.

"Should… should I call her, maybe?" he asked himself. He decided to go for it and got out his phone.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ayumi was saying goodbye to Naomi, as she had a date with Satoshi.

"Good luck with Mochida!" she waved goodbye.

"Good luck with Kishinuma!" Naomi winked, laughing at Ayumi's red face. Ayumi wasn't used to being teased about her feelings as she wasn't when she had foolishly liked Mochida and Naomi found it fun to be the one doing the teasing for once. Ayumi headed back upstairs, ignoring the fact that every adult was still in her home, calming the parents of those with the children that didn't come back. Ayumi sighed as she collapsed onto her bed, looking up at the ceiling. Her mind wandered to the last time she was in that position, with Yoshiki's lips on hers. She blushed profusely at the memory and covered her face.

"Oh god, he probably hates me now," she laughed bitterly. He had left shortly after Satoshi appeared, probably disgusted by her so much that he couldn't bear to stay near her. Deep in her thoughts, her phone vibrated next to her. She jumped and opened the text message, her eyes widening when she saw who it was from.

_From: Kishinuma Yoshiki_

_Hey, Shinozaki! Sorry about leaving so soon, I had to go to work :(  
Anyways, I was wondering if you'd like to go see a movie or something with me tomorrow, you know, to take our minds off of that place?_

Was he asking her to go on a date? Her heart fluttered at the suggestion, making her smile and blush at the same time. What was it about him that made her so flustered? She texted back immediately, saying yes and telling him to pick her up at her house. He replied back straight away saying that was fine. She lay back down on her bed, conflicting emotions swirling within her. She felt so calm, so happy, but she felt that she didn't deserve to be after her friends' deaths….


	4. Chapter 4 - Blue and Lavender Roses

Chapter 4 – Blue and Lavender Roses

She glanced at herself in the mirror for what seemed like the hundredth time. Adjusting her skirt, she frowned nervously.

"Why do I care how I look?" she pondered, tilting her head and smiling experimentally in the mirror. She threw on a jacket, looked at herself judgingly and took it off. Closing her eyes at her embarrassment, she tried to convince herself that Kishinuma wouldn't care how she looked.

"Kishinuma…" she said but frowned at how formal it seemed.

"Yoshiki…" she whispered, liking how it sounded. She repeated his name and smiled again. She said it again, way too loudly, causing her sister to look up from her work in her room and check on Ayumi.

Hinoe found her sister in a blue denim skater skirt and a white crop top. She also happened to be wearing a little bit of natural make-up, something she never did, and had her hair in twin tails, Ayumi's unique style. Smiling at the effort her little sister had put in for her first date, she quietly shut the door and tiptoed back to her own room, sensing the presence of a certain blonde outside of her house.

Meanwhile, Yoshiki stood at Ayumi's front door, feeling uncharacteristically nervous. He held a bouquet of blue and purple open roses. He felt the urge to throw them very far away from himself in embarrassment.

"God, I hope she likes these after what I did to get them," he muttered to himself, thinking back to his trip to the florist…

* * *

He stepped into the florist with a somewhat cool and relaxed aura surrounding him. Nothing could faze him after Ayumi said yes to the date. He knew that he had to get her flowers, so she knew he cared. Naturally, he searched the meanings of different colours of roses to find one that perfectly described how his feelings towards the blue haired girl.

Obviously, his first choice was blue and they, thankfully, meant hope for unattainable love in Chinese folklore. However, he didn't want the flowers to mean just that, so he searched for: red roses, too cliché or pink roses, admiration or white roses, marriage. As a last ditch attempt for a second coloured rose, he simply searched for purple ones and was delighted with the result.

Lavender, purple, roses were often signs of enchantment or love at first sight, those who have been enraptured by feelings of love and adoration have used lavender roses to express their romantic feelings and intentions, that's what the website said and it perfectly fit how Yoshiki felt, as cliché as it may have been. The only florist near him that sold blue and lavender roses was an hour trip, but it was worth it to Yoshiki.

"Hello, I came to collect my order under the name of Kishinuma Yoshiki," Yoshiki said calmly at the desk, as he had managed to order the bouquet online. The lady at the desk blinked up at him. He didn't seem to fit in a brightly coloured place like 'Happiness Florist.' He had a sort of bad boy air around him, in his red shirt and black jeans, with his blonde hair and strong features.

"Umm, yeah, let me go get it," she muttered, typing away at the computer in front of her before heading back into a separate room. Yoshiki waited calmly for five minutes before the woman stepped out from the room, a panicked expression spread across her face. She frowned and looked as if she was about to cry.

"Well, you see, we don't get many orders of blue and purple roses so we don't normally stock them but… we had enough when you ordered!" she blurted.

"So… what's the problem?" Yoshiki asked nervously, fearing the worst. The woman gulped and pointed to a van that was parked outside.

"That woman came in here about five minutes before you got here and… another worker sold all that we had to her," she added as the van began to drive away.

"Sorry!" the woman tried to say but Yoshiki was already sprinting out of the store and chasing the van down the road.

After what seemed like hours of constant running, the lady that drove the van noticed Yoshiki sprinting behind the van and frowned, slowing down to question the teen. Parking at the side of the road, the lady got out. Yoshiki caught up to the van and let himself slow down, panting heavily from over exerting himself.

"The things… I do… for… Ayumi," he panted to himself, bending over in pain as his lungs sucked **(10000****th**** word!)** in all the air they could. The lady stood awkwardly, looking at the teen with an odd mix of worry and annoyance.

"Pardon me? Who are you?" the lady asked patiently.

"Kishinuma Yoshiki," he answered, scratching the back of his neck. There was an awkward pause.

"And… why have you been chasing after my van?" the lady asked.

"Oh, well, I placed an order for a bouquet of blue and lavender roses earlier today and…" Yoshiki explained but the lady cut him off.

"I ordered them all yesterday, they're mine," she nodded, steeping back into her van.

"Excuse me Miss," Yoshiki said.

"What?" the lady snapped. Yoshiki flinched at her reaction but he refused to give in.

"Miss, if you don't let me have one measly bouquet, I will chase this van until you give me one," Yoshiki insisted. The lady scoffed.

"You can run for an hour?" she laughed but stopped upon seeing Yoshiki's serious expression.

"You can't?" he challenged. The two stared at each other dramatically, the lady trying to figure out if Yoshiki was bluffing. The lady smiled, after a five minute staring contest, and stepped out of her van, giving in to the child that had challenged her so.

"I will give you one bouquet on the condition that you owe me a favour," the lady bargained, opening up the van and handing Yoshiki one of the six bouquets she had in the back. Yoshiki looked at the lady warily, unsure of whether the bouquet was worth risking his safety. He didn't know this woman, she could be some sort of rapist!

"The favour would be completely business related, I assure you, I am a woman of business after all," she replied, seemingly reading Yoshiki's mind.

"What is your business, anyway?" Yoshiki asked curiously.

"I'm a wedding planner. You're lucky I ordered one bouquet too many, just in case," the lady smiled, handing Yoshiki the only bouquet that looked slightly dissimilar to the rest. It had darker blue flowers that almost matched the colour of Ayumi's hair and lavender roses that were almost as beautiful as Ayumi.

"Thank you, you have no idea how grateful I am right now," he breathed, taking the bouquet carefully, as to protect the flowers that reminded him so much of Ayumi.

"It's fine," the lady smiled. She got back into the van.

"Wait, don't you need my name or number, for your favour?" Yoshiki asked but the lady just tilted her head knowingly.

"I don't need it. I'm a powerful businesswoman, I'll find you when I need you," she replied, trying hard not to sound creepy.

* * *

Yoshiki knocked on the door before he could change his mind and was shocked to see Ayumi answer the door nearly as soon as his fist met the door. She smiled at him before her she noticed the bouquet. Her eyes widened as she stared at the beautiful roses. Ayumi knew what roses meant from her research back when she had a silly crush on Mochida, hoping that she would be able to understand his feelings if he bought her roses. Which he never did.

"Uh, hi," Yoshiki said nervously, taking in her beauty. She wore normal clothes and Yoshiki felt honoured he could see her out of her uniform. Ayumi continued to look at the roses.

"Are those for me?" she squeaked, pointing a shaking hand at them. Yoshiki nodded slowly and held them out to her with his signature smirk.

Ayumi carefully took the roses from him and smiled up at him. He probably didn't know what the roses meant, but it's still sweet, she thought, smiling warmly up at him. She was wrong, however, Yoshiki knew exactly what those flowers meant. Yoshiki felt his heart melt as she smiled at him and fought the urge to plant another kiss on Ayumi's soft lips. Another. His face heated up as he thought back to the day before, where Ayumi had, in Satoshi's words, took advantage or Yoshiki.

Ayumi didn't notice the slight blush that adorned his face as she focused on the roses.

"Hang on a minute!" Ayumi said with a smile, rushing back into her house to find a vase to put the flowers in. After finding one, she filled it with water and left the roses in it. She returned to the door to find Yoshiki facing away from her house awkwardly. He looked so cute as he scratched the back of his neck…

Yoshiki turned to see Ayumi shaking her head, a blush spread across her face. He frowned in confusion.

"Eh? Shinozaki, are you okay, you're blushing?" he said bluntly, causing Ayumi to sigh exasperatedly, pulling Yoshiki out of the house. She only blushed harder.

"You…" she trailed off, not knowing what name to call him after him being so direct.

"Where are we going anyway? You were quite vague in the text..." Ayumi asked questioningly, subtly moving closer to him as they walked towards the bus stop.

"You seem excited, are you excited to spend the day with me?" Yoshiki teased with a smirk.

"Ye – No, maybe! Ugh, where are we going?" Ayumi answered defensively, hiding her blush with her hair. Yoshiki smiled at her shyness.

"Where do you want to go?" Yoshiki answered finally. Her face lit up at his response.

"Well, there was a new horror film that I wanted to go see -" Ayumi began, but her happiness wore off after thinking about horror. Maybe she had had enough horror in Heavenly Host. Yoshiki, noticing her mood sink, panicked and found his had go to hers, almost of its own will. When she felt a hand grab lightly onto hers, her first idea was to pull her hand away, but it felt nice to have his hand in hers that she just let him. Her mind was taken off of that place.

"Maybe we could have a picnic in the park, it's a nice day and I have some food in my apartment that I could get?" Yoshiki asked, desperate to rid Ayumi's thoughts of Heavenly Host, at least for the rest of their date.

"That sounds good," Ayumi smiled, thankful that Yoshiki was always so considerate of her feelings, more than Mochida had ever been. She smiled even more when she found herself comparing Yoshiki to Mochida again, but this time in a way that even Yoshiki would be happy with.

"Good. I'll need to head back to my place to get the food, you want to come?" Yoshiki asked her, as she could wait at her own home until he came back. She nodded her head enthusiastically. Secretly, she was curious to see what Yoshiki's home looked like.

"Heh," Yoshiki chuckled at her eagerness. He was thankful that there wasn't any awkwardness between them after their kiss the day before. His heart still beat weirdly when he thought about it but he could hide his reaction from her, she couldn't read minds, could she!

They got on the bus and stayed on until they were a minute walk away from Yoshiki's apartment, when they got off and began walking. Yoshiki asked how Ayumi was doing and she asked him the same, they just made small talk until they got to his building. It was a simple building with ten floors, from the looks of things, and Yoshiki told Ayumi that he lived on the fifth floor.

"It's a little messy," Yoshiki warned as he got out his key and opened the door, revealing a simple square room with grey walls and a black sofa in the centre, a TV in front of it, resting on the left hand wall. There was a small table behind the sofa with two chairs, a fridge, a counter and a stove behind that. The back wall was something special, it was just a large window, looking down onto a park, the city centre behind that, creating a brilliant view. Ayumi couldn't help but wonder what it would look like at night, and she couldn't help but wish that Yoshiki would let her stay long enough to see.

"Wow, that view," Ayumi gasped. She completely ignored the clothes that were strewn across the floor haphazardly, and the mound of dirty dishes that were piled in the sink, as she was too absorbed in the window. Yoshiki chuckled as she walked closer to it, a look of childish joy spread across her face.

"Yeah," he agreed in a teasing whisper, "You should see it at night."

Ayumi blushed at his comment, automatically turning away from him. He was flirting with her! And she was happy about it! She shook her head again, banishing such vulgar thoughts from her mind. This was Yoshiki, her friend, her friend who bought her flowers of unattainable love, her friend who flirted with her, her friend who kissed her so passionately….

"Ayumi? Are you okay?" Yoshiki asked, noticing Ayumi enter some sort of trance.

"If it's because of what I said, I'm sorry," he added, snapping Ayumi out of her trance. She looked up and frowned.

"No, it's not that, I was just thinking about…" she said quietly as Yoshiki grabbed a picnic basket from a cupboard and some things from the fridge. She couldn't tell him what she was thinking about, could she?

"About what?" Yoshiki asked worriedly, hoping that she wasn't thinking about Heavenly Host, "It wasn't that place was it. Don't worry, I'll protect you even if something bad happens." He decided to add that last part to remind her not to worry about anything else happening.

Ayumi smiled at his caring attitude and added two more things to the list. Her friend who protected her, her friend who was maybe something more...


	5. Chapter 5 - Good Luck with Mochida

Chapter 5: Good Luck with Mochida

"Good luck with Mochida!" Ayumi cried out happily as Naomi walked away from her friend's house. She smiled back.

"Good luck with Kishinuma!" Naomi winked, laughing at the blush that spread across Ayumi's face. Naomi was very happy that Ayumi was beginning to reciprocate Kishinuma's obvious love, but she was secretly happy that Ayumi would no longer be pursuing Satoshi. Naomi had noticed how Ayumi would fawn over him and had, of course, felt jealous. She was very aware of Ayumi's old feelings towards Satoshi but she was strangely unaware of Satoshi's feelings towards herself.

Naomi walked herself home from Ayumi's house with a smile, a smile that magically stopped all thoughts of Heavenly Host from her mind. Though Naomi knew she would always miss Seiko, she was happy that people still remembered her, meaning that she would never forget her best friend. Naomi knew that Seiko would want her to carry on with her life happily, with Satoshi. She could almost hear Seiko's teasing.

"Oh my Naomi, Mochida must love that ass of yours, he is one lucky guy," Seiko would laugh with a cat-like grin.

"Shush Seiko! Why are you obsessed with my… breasts and my butt?" Naomi would say embarrassedly, blushing at the thought of her -

"Your dear Mochi!" Seiko would wink knowingly.

Naomi sighed as she thought of Seiko, realizing that she still hadn't told Satoshi that she had been the one to kill Seiko. She would tell him, when she was ready to accept it herself.

"Seiko… I'm sorry," Naomi sobbed quietly. She continued to walk down the street, not really focusing on anything. Her mind was absorbed in an imaginary conversation with Seiko, so when the car came speeding around the corner, she didn't see it. She still didn't see it when it hit her and she still didn't see it as she lost consciousness on the street.

Satoshi sat in the hospital next to the bed that Naomi lay on, the morning after the accident. The doctors had told him that she was going to survive, possibly with memory loss or with some brain damage but she would live. Satoshi rocked back and forth on the chair, his mind numb from a mix of fear, relief, anxiety and, the big one, guilt.

* * *

_"From what you've told me, she started it so you couldn't have been taking advantage of her really," Satoshi explained, heading out the door. He needed to get back before Yuka started to worry. She was fourteen but still acted like a five year old, constantly pining for her onii-chan's attention. Satoshi knew that Heavenly Host had changed Yuka, and even if he didn't want to admit it, Heavenly Host had probably been a good thing for the girl. It had forced her to grow up._

_Satoshi secretly liked the way his sister fawned over him, though. He liked to be needed so, even if Yuka was sat at home, completely fine and not worrying, in Satoshi's head, she was sat, crying for him to return home. So he got in his car and sped (You know where this is going, don't you?) down the road, his mind filled with a million little thoughts of nothing. He turned round a corner, his eyes widening as he saw Naomi in the middle of the street. He tried so hard to stop the car, but the car was having none of it. He felt the car hit Naomi and he cursed, jumping out of the car that had, finally stopped._

_"Naomi!" he cried, bending over to check that she was okay. Thankfully, she wasn't bleeding from where the car had hit her but… Satoshi could see deep red liquid pooling out from where her head lay on the concrete. He knew it was blood, something he had wished never to see again after Heavenly Host. Her eyes were slowly closing but before she passed out, Satoshi heard her mutter something._

_"Sei… seik… o," her head lolled backwards. Her body felt heavier in Satoshi's arms. Her face looked surprisingly peaceful. _

_Satoshi tried to ignore the jealousy that he felt towards a dead girl, whose name was uttered by his love in her final moments of consciousness._

_The imperative word here being tried._

* * *

The guilt was like a living thing, a living creature, in his heart, destroying him from the inside out, tearing up every time Naomi's heart monitor beeped, and signalling a beat of something he almost stopped from beating again. He cursed himself for his mind being elsewhere when he drove. He should have been driving slower, he should have been paying attention, he shouldn't have let his mind wander. He had already been asked how it happened, by the medics and, worse, by Naomi's mother, Natsumi.

"Were you texting? I know that a lot of kids do that these days," an old doctor asked, his voice laced with condescending sorrow.

"Were you asleep?" a ditsy looking lady at the front desk asked.

"Did you mean to do it?" Natsumi asked, tears welling up in her eyes. That question had really hurt Satoshi. She asked it so… carefully, as if she feared the answer. Satoshi automatically dismissed the idea, but still refused to tell anyone how it had happened. He couldn't bear to see the disappointment in everyone's eyes, the shaking of heads, the tutting.

After the doctors had checked to see if Satoshi was fine, he had rushed to Naomi's room, and that was where he sat as the guilt that consumed him grew, only growing under the sympathetic stares from the nurses and doctors. His eyes were red, his face pale, his movements stiff and jerky. His gaze was cold, his body underfed, his mind dulled from the strange amount of pain that he felt. He allowed himself to laugh at that part, earning a couple of frowns from people around. Pain, he was in pain. Naomi was in more pain, he repeated in his head. He couldn't even imagine how awful it must have been for her to get hit by a car, his own car…

"Ah, Satoshi, how are you feeling?" Doctor Oshiro asked, all too chirpily for Satoshi's liking. How could the world go on while Naomi was in a coma? How could people function while she lay there, unmoving?

"Numb," Satoshi said quietly, not looking away from Naomi. He could feel the doctor's eyes staring at him, so he turned his head a fraction, repeating his answer.

"I meant physically, not emotionally," Doctor Oshiro whispered kindly, sitting next to Satoshi. Satoshi gulped and turned to properly face the doctor.

"Numb," Satoshi insisted.

"Hmm. Okay," Doctor Oshiro said, looking away from Satoshi, finally. They sat in silence for a minute before the doctor spoke again.

"She will live. Her condition is stable, and improving vastly, and quickly," the doctor informed. He even glanced at the heart monitor and pointed to it loosely.

"I know," Satoshi snapped, feeling uncharacteristically irritable. He mumbled an apology at his outburst a minute later.

"It's fine, I know how stressful it can be to sit, unharmed while someone you…" Doctor Oshiro started, stopping to observe Satoshi before nodding, "Love."

"It's even worse knowing that it was you who caused it," Satoshi muttered, not bothering to correct the doctor, because, if he was honest, he did love Naomi.

"But it isn't your fault, not really, from what I hear, Nakashima just crossed the road at exactly the wrong place, and you were driving just a little too fast to stop," the doctor consoled, acting much more like a friend than his profession allowed. The two sat in silence before Satoshi sighed and gave in to the guilt inside of him, allowing tears to freely weep.

"Do you feel as if she'll hate you when she wakes up? Is that the problem? Do you think she will blame you for an accident?" Doctor Oshiro asked calmly.

Satoshi sighed, "How could she not blame me? Despite what you say, it really was my fault. If I hadn't been…" he trailed off, not wanting anyone to know yet.

"If you hadn't been, what?" the doctor pressed.

"If I hadn't been worrying about my fully capable, fourteen year old sister, this wouldn't have happened!" Satoshi snapped, gesturing towards the heart monitor and the hospital bed. The doctor tilted his head and nodded slightly, slowly at first.

"So you accidentally injured a friend, who was crossing at a highly inappropriate place in the road, because you were worrying about your sister, who is sat in the corridor with your parents, worrying about you, while you sit here feeling guilty for a mistake," Doctor Oshiro clarified quietly, sufficiently shutting Satoshi up.

"From the sounds of it," the doctor began, "You seem like a good person." Satoshi scoffed.

"I hit my closest friend with my car, I'm an awful person," Satoshi frowned.

"Even good people do bad things sometimes, it doesn't make them bad people. You have apologised and sat here in enough pain. Focus on the positive, you managed to save her by pressing your jacket to her head wound, and she is still alive now, just waiting to wake up," Doctor Oshiro said with a smile, getting up to leave Satoshi with Naomi.

Satoshi looked down before looking back up at Naomi.

"I… Naomi, I am… so sorry. If you can… if you can hear me, please wake up. After Heavenly Host, I thought that nothing bad would happen again and… and I need you, I love you," Satoshi whispered, grabbing hold of Naomi's hand, secretly hoping his confession would be enough to wake her. When it didn't he carried on.

"They're saying it wasn't my fault, that I don't have to feel guilty… but until you're awake, until you're with me again, I feel… nothing but guilt. Until you are very much alive, standing by my side with a beautiful smile, to me… it's like you're dead, and I've already lost too many people. We both have. Morishige, Suzumoto, Yui-sensei… Seiko," Satoshi practically begged her to wake up.

"It's selfish of me, I know it is, but I want you to come back. Out of everyone left after that place, I think I need you the most," he carried on, but Naomi still didn't wake. He carried on regardless.

"Remember when you thought that you had lost your scrap of paper from the charm? Well, if Shinozaki hadn't have found it… Naomi, I would have stayed in that hellish school with you. I wouldn't care about food, about water, about sleep, about… death, as long as I was with you… As long as I am always with you…" Satoshi whimpered, his voice breaking, tears begging to cry.

"Because, I love you more than anyone has ever loved anyone. It seems crazy, we're still young but I know that I want to spend every day of my life with you. Even if you don't love me, I will still stay by your side. From this day onward, I will protect you from everything, even myself and my stupid car so… so you have to wake up, so I can protect you!" Satoshi explained to Naomi's sleeping form.

"You know, it's a real shame I couldn't tell you this before. Maybe if I had told you the second we got back from that place, I would have been driving you home when I hit you. Then we'd be fine, right? I'm such a coward to only be able to tell you this while you're in a… a coma," Satoshi smiled bitterly, running a hand through his hair.

"So please just wake up, I love you, Naomi," he whispered, closing his eyes and crying next to Naomi, his head on the bed, next to her arm, still grasping at her hand.

Natsumi stood in front of the curtain, listening to Satoshi finish his little speech, his confession. She was in tears from the level of emotion that came from his voice. The boy truly loved her daughter, more than anything from what she heard. Natsumi had been ready to storm in and hit him after the doctor explained how in pain Satoshi was, feeling as if he did not have the right to make anyone feel sad for him after he had put Naomi in a coma but… she had stopped when she heard him start to talk. She had lowered her fist when Satoshi told Naomi that he loved her, she had put her hand over her heart when Satoshi mentioned the friends that they had lost, and she had felt tears run down her cheek when Satoshi had talked about protecting Naomi.

Natsumi smiled for her daughter, knowing that she had someone who loved her so much, more than Naomi's father had ever loved Natsumi. She turned from the curtain and went to sit back in the corridor, smiling widely at Satoshi's parents. Natsumi began to engage in a discussion with the couple and the girl, wanting to get to know her daughter's soon-to-be-boyfriend's parents and sister.

Satoshi lifted his head when he felt a hand move in his. He wiped his eyes with his free hand and blinked at Naomi as she… as she moved!

"Na – Naomi!" Satoshi cried breathlessly, crushing Naomi's hand under his grip, as if she would disappear if he let go of her. She slowly opened her warm brown eyes and looked around confusedly, her gaze landing on Satoshi.

"Satoshi, what happened?" she asked, sitting up, wincing a little from the faint pain she felt in her chest. Her confusion only deepened when Satoshi gulped and closed his eyes, sighing a bit before opening them.

"Naomi, what do you remember last?" he asked quietly, waiting for Naomi to hit him for hitting her with his car. However, Naomi frowned, shrugging a little before she smiled warmly, albeit perplexedly.

"What do you mean? We were just at the cultural festival. There was an earthquake, right? I got injured in that then, didn't I?" she said like it was correct. Satoshi was about to scold her for joking around when she added something else.

"Oh gosh! Is everyone else okay? Seiko didn't get hurt by the earthquake, did she?" Naomi blinked with a nervous smile.

"Naomi, you don't remember Heavenly Host?" Satoshi asked, fear spread like ice within his chest. Naomi looked very confused.

"Heavenly Host? What's that?" Naomi asked with a smile.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Pain of Memory

Chapter 6: The Pain of Memory

"Heavenly Host? What's that?" Naomi asked with an unknowing smile. Satoshi blinked at her. Naomi blinked back, smiling again.

"Uh, I have to… go do a – uh, thing!" Satoshi said quickly, dashing out of the room before Naomi could ask any more questions. He had to speak to a doctor. He had to speak to Natsumi. He had to speak to Yoshiki and Shinozaki. He also, he realized, really had to sleep at some point.

"Satoshi! What's happened, you look even more stressed than you were earlier?" Miho, his mother, asked him with a frown.

"Uh, well, there's good news and bad news," Satoshi breathed, eyes darting around the waiting area fearfully. Four pairs of eyes regarded him warily, shocked by the sudden change in the boy's mood.

"What would you like to hear first? Pick good, I can't explain the bad before you hear the good, actually, forget it, ask me what the good news is," Satoshi quickly said. He paced up and down a small stretch of corridor, waiting for someone to speak.

"Okay, then. What's the good news?" Hiro, Satoshi's father asked carefully. Satoshi stopped pacing and smiled at his parents, his sister and the love of his life's mother.

"Naomi woke up!" he informed excitedly, smiling wider when Natsumi's eyes practically burst from their sockets.

"My baby's awake! I need to go see her," Natsumi cried, heading towards the door just as Satoshi stopped her.

"But…" Satoshi began. He looked down at the floor, the smile wiped clean from his face.

"Satoshi, if you don't move from the door, I might just have to punch you away," Natsumi warned.

"But… she has, like the doctors said was possible, suffered from memory loss," Satoshi explained, pushing Natsumi away from him lightly.

"Oh no!" Miho exclaimed.

"What has… what has she forgotten?" Natsumi asked frantically.

"Well, she's forgotten going to Heavenly Host, I think," Satoshi said, waiting a minute to let the news settle in. Natsumi looked up thoughtfully.

"Isn't that good though? She has no memory of going to that horrible place!" Natsumi smiled, looking around at Satoshi's parents.

"But, how can we explain how three of her friends, and their teacher, are dead," Hiro asked calmly. Satoshi stiffened slightly, but hoped no one noticed.

"Satoshi, what's the matter?" Natsumi asked him, having noticed him visibly stiffen at what Hiro said.

"Umm, there is one way we could explain it but… I don't want to lie to her. I also don't want her to go through the trauma of her friends deaths again," Satoshi explained quietly.

"Big brother," Yuka said quietly, bringing all the attention to her, "I don't want Naomi to have to remember. I wish I could forget. Maybe it would be nice for her to be able to live without the memories. Besides, memory hurts and Naomi has been through enough already," Yuka carried on, very maturely. There was silence for a minute while everyone took in what the little fourteen year old has said.

"Yuka I…" Satoshi began but he stopped, not really knowing what to say next.

"Fine. When she woke up, she said her last memory was the cultural festival, before we went to Heavenly Host. She thought that she was in hospital because of the earthquake we felt to be taken there and she asked if anyone else got hurt. We could…" Satoshi explained but everyone caught on pretty quickly.

"We could tell her that her friends died from the earthquake," Natsumi finished for him. Satoshi nodded.

"We could keep the stories of their deaths similar to how they died in the school so that, if she bumps into the parents of Shinohara, Morishige, Suzumoto, they won't confuse her too much," Satoshi suggested.

"We could tell her that… Ms Yui fell down the stairs whilst looking for help… Morishige got… impaled by a sharp object… Mayu passed out and died when her head hit a wall and that… Seiko… suffered from injuries similar to Naomi but didn't survive. Is that okay?" Satoshi asked with a sigh. He was greeted with pure, unadulterated silence.

"I guess that would work," Natsumi agreed, "But I do feel a little bad lying to her."

Satoshi sighed again, "I know. I feel awful about it, what happens if she gets her memory back, will she hate us for lying or… be grateful?"

The corridor went quiet as each person considered the weight of Satoshi's words.

"We'll talk to the doctors about how permanent her memory loss is," Miho nodded, gently pulling Natsumi down to the nearest doctor.

Hiro and Yuka sat back down. Satoshi hesitated slightly as he went to walk back to Naomi, not wanting to say something he'd regret later to her. Her form came into view and she shifted on the bed as she spotted him. Naomi smiled up at him. Satoshi stopped a little away from the end of her bed. Naomi's joyous smile transitioned into a frown.

"Satoshi, I… have I done something wrong?" the girl said quietly, ringing her hands, looking down in embarrassment. Satoshi blinked in confusion, his blinking eyes widening considerably. He took a step closer to Naomi.

"N – No!" Satoshi exclaimed. Naomi sighed, relieved.

"Why did you think you had done something?" Satoshi asked, taking another step forwards. Naomi moved uncomfortably.

"It's hard to explain," she began, "It's like… like I've done something awful, like I have this overwhelming sense of guilt, and I can't remember what I've done and you looked upset about something when you left me earlier and I-"

"Naomi! You've done nothing wrong," Satoshi cried, cutting Naomi off and taking yet another step closer to her. By this point he was stood next to the bed and holding onto Naomi's hand before he could even realize what he was doing. Naomi simply looked up at him, her warm brown eyes wide as she looked up at Satoshi. He was really close to her and she could swear he was moving closer like he was going to – no! Naomi's heart sped up to an inhuman rate, but as Satoshi's face stopped inches away from hers, she forced herself to calm down.

"But… what if I have done something that you don't know about!" Naomi whispered, not knowing where the words came from. She knew she hadn't done anything but… there was this niggling at the back of her head, like it was just out of reach, like there was something she was forgetting.

Satoshi tilted his head in confusion, "Like what?"

Naomi faltered. "I don't know."

A strange sort of silence filled the air, neither teen wanting to talk. To Naomi, the conversation was painful for her. It was like she was trying to remember a memory that hurt, like trying to untie a rope as a heavy weight pressed down on her. For Satoshi, the conversation was a mystery to him. He understood that Naomi's memory was trying so hard to get back, but he had no idea what she felt guilty about. Could it be Seiko? Did she think that she had caused Seiko's death? If that was it, why wasn't she like this before the accident?

"Hmm?" Satoshi asked as he heard Naomi mutter something about rope, sudden hope filling him as he wondered if Naomi's memory was slowly returning, even though she had only been awake for at most, fifteen minutes.

"Nothing, anyway," Naomi began brightly, snapping out of her little trance, "How long have I been out?"

"Umm, overnight and some of today," Satoshi stuttered.

"Do you know what time it is?" Naomi asked with a warm smile, a warmth that managed to simultaneously melt and heat up Satoshi's heart. He glanced at the watch on his wrist.

"Half past eleven, you hungry?" Satoshi asked. Naomi nodded vehemently.

"I'll ask the doctors to get you something," Satoshi chuckled, as Doctor Oshiro wandered in, Natsumi in tow.

"Mum!" Naomi exclaimed, smiling even wider than before. She hadn't smiled like that since before… Satoshi shook his head, banishing such thoughts from his mind.

"I'm glad you're awake Naomi, we were so scared after the accide – earthquake," Natsumi quickly corrected herself, sticking to the new story. Naomi's eyes briefly flickered down to the plate of food in the Doctor's hand. She looked longingly at the food, adopting her best puppy dog expression, as if she thought the food was for anyone but her. Doctor Oshiro laughed at the girl's begging face.

"Don't worry, it's yours," he passed the plate to her, still chuckling. Satoshi smiled, looking back at Naomi as she devoured the plate.

"Thank you, Doctor," Naomi said between mouthfuls. Everyone in the room was smiling warmly. For a patient who had been in a coma overnight and had never been anything but improving, people were excessively happy to see her awake.

"Well, I think I can say for everyone that we are glad you're awake," Doctor Oshiro said. Everything was going fine, Satoshi noted, no-one had said anything that could compromise the lie they were going to tell Naomi…

"That reminds me, this boy here has been here all night, feeling guilty for the accident. The poor thing!" Doctor Oshiro added with a smile, two heads snapping to him. Naomi frowned funnily, tilting her head.

"Accident? Guilty? I don't think an earthquake is anyone's fault," Naomi said slowly. The doctor opened his mouth to say something but, thankfully, Natsumi stopped him, pushing him out into the corridor.

"Satoshi here wanted to tell you all about some things about being a Doctor that he learned in school, don't you Satoshi! Come on, let's go," Natsumi panicked. Satoshi apologised to Naomi and left with the Doctor. Naomi sat speechlessly on the hospital bed.

"Now what's this all about?" Doctor Oshiro asked when they were out in the corridor, "Satoshi, I have a patient to deal with, your friend even, so can the things you have to tell me wait?"

"It's about Naomi!" Satoshi spluttered, stopping the doctor from going back in. He asked what Satoshi meant.

"Well, she's suffered from some memory loss and can't remember anything that happened in the last five days," Natsumi explained.

"Oh. At least it's not any longer than that! We were worried that she may have forgotten years of her life, or forgotten everyone she knew," Doctor Oshiro smiled, "Nothing significant has happened in five days, has it?"

"Actually… three of her friends and her teacher died in the past five days!" Satoshi whispered, just loud enough for the doctor to hear.

"Oh my god, that's awful!" Doctor Oshiro cried, offering his condolences.

"And they died in a horrible… accident that Naomi, Satoshi, and some of their other friends barely survived," Natsumi muttered.

"But I don't remember you coming to the hospital," the doctor said. Satoshi sighed. He didn't really want to tell the doctor the full story but he needed to somehow explain his point.

"Let's just say we were kidnapped and were left basically uninjured. Sadly, we lost some friends in the kidnapping," Satoshi explained.

"Have you informed the police?" Doctor Oshiro asked. He heard Satoshi mutter something about nobody believing them.

"That doesn't matter. But can you see our situation?" Natsumi pleaded. The doctor shook his head, massively confused at the state he was in.

"We don't exactly want her to have to remember that horrible place. Let me tell you, it was awful and I wish I could forget. Yuka does, Yoshiki does, Shinozaki does, we all want to forget. So we don't want to tell her what happened but her friends, her closest friend Seiko, are dead and we can't undo that. Especially since she had only just managed to accept their deaths and we don't want a relapse of survivor's guilt!" Satoshi started, getting too emotional to carry on.

"So we want to tell her that they died in an earthquake she experienced before she was kidnapped, can you play along with it?" Natsumi asked. The doctor seemed to be debating it in his head. Doctor Oshiro really couldn't lie but… if their experience was as dreadful as they said, he could understand their hesitation to tell the truth to the poor girl.

"Not for us, for Naomi!" Satoshi begged. Doctor Oshiro was about to agree when they all heard a sudden screaming coming from Naomi's room.

"Naomi!" Satoshi cried, his instinct to protect her kicking in as he ran to her room, déjà vu hitting him like a rock, like a hammer, remembering the screams he heard in Heavenly Host.

When the trio entered the room, they found Naomi curled up on the bed, covering her ears with her hands and shaking, the blanket around her slipping off of the bed. She was screaming so gutturally that it set off something in Satoshi. He ran closer to Naomi and lifted up her head. Her eyes were panicked and wild, feral and scared.

"Why does it hurt so much?" Naomi cried grabbing onto Satoshi's hands and shaking them as she continued to scream.

"What hurts? Tell us so we can help!" Satoshi demanded. Naomi pulled his hand onto her head and made him feel her temperature. She was burning under his grasp.

"In my head, I can see this place and it's horrible. It hurts, make it go away!" Naomi screeched.

"Place? What place?" Satoshi asked calmly, already sure of the answer.

"A school! There's blood and there's dead bodies and there's a bathroom and… and I'm, I'm-" Naomi wept, Satoshi asking her to continue, "No! I don't believe it! Why would I kill her? Why would I kick the bucket away!"

Satoshi felt stressed and worried. There were voices everywhere.

"Why is she screaming? What's she screaming about?" Doctor Oshiro.

"Who did she kill?" Natsumi.

"Is this her memory coming back?" Doctor Oshiro.

"She's being so loud! She's talking about that place!" Natsumi.

"I didn't! Why would I?" Naomi.

"Get her to be quiet!" Doctor Oshiro.

Satoshi listened to the voice that made the most sense in that point in time and managed to keep Naomi quiet. By leaning forward, closing the distance between the two, and kissing Naomi quiet.


	7. Chapter 7 - A Well Deserved Respite

Chapter 7: A Well-Deserved Respite

Meanwhile, Ayumi and Yoshiki were on a date, completely unaware of the fact that Naomi had suffered from memory loss and Satoshi was currently kissing her noiseless…

"I'll protect you if something bad happens," Yoshiki promised defensively, grabbing a couple more ingredients and drinks from the fridge. He desperately wanted Ayumi to have a good day, a day she could have living free of guilt she didn't deserve to feel. The picnic was just the first thing he wanted to do, he had so many ideas running around happily in his head that he barely heard Ayumi.

"Sorry, Shinozaki, what did you say?" he asked.

"I was wondering why everything seems to be going to perfect after coming back, I feel like something bad is going to happen," Ayumi replied from the sofa, where she had sat down with her bag on her lap.

"Or maybe, something bad has already happened and we just don't know it yet," Yoshiki added to her statement. Ayumi turned to him incredulously.

"Thank you for making me feel better," she said sarcastically. Yoshiki immediately panicked and rushed over to stand behind the sofa. He leaned his head next to Ayumi's as she sat back on the sofa and looked at her face, a slightly worried look in his eyes. Ayumi felt Yoshiki move towards the chair and turned her head to the side, only to see Yoshiki's face a centimetre from hers, eye to eye, nose to nose and almost lips to lips.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make it worse," Yoshiki apologised, unaware of the emotional turmoil he was currently creating for the bluenette. Ayumi couldn't help but notice how nice he smelt, like coffee and coconut, for some reason. It was strange, Ayumi couldn't understand why he smelled so… good but he did, and she wasn't complaining!

"Hmm?" Ayumi sighed lightly, closing her eyes and breathing in inconspicuously. She was enjoying the moment, nothing could ruin it for her.

"So what do you want in the picnic basket?" Yoshiki said with a smile. Ayumi snapped her eyes open and moved away slightly from him, suddenly remembering what was going on. She kept swinging back and forth from not caring about what happened between her and Yoshiki and wanting to keep her distance. If she was honest with herself, it was probably because she was scared. She hadn't realized it yet, as she was incredibly blind for a class rep, but she was scared of how different, how intense her feelings were for Yoshiki compared to the crush she had on Mochida that had died just over a day ago.

"Umm, do you have any fruit?" she asked. Yoshiki nodded and walked back to the kitchen area.

"I like apples!" Ayumi said randomly, causing Yoshiki to laugh and put a couple in the basket. She was so adorable sometimes, no scrap that, all the time.

"Alright," Yoshiki started, putting some cookies in the basket for good measure, "We're done her, wanna go?"

Ayumi nodded with a smile and bounced off of the chair. She felt energized and awake, the scent of Yoshiki's neck filling her with newfound liveliness. Yoshiki handed her the picnic basket and opened up the door, motioning for Ayumi to leave first, being the gentleman he was. It astounded Ayumi how blind she had been to his kind side, refusing to believe that anyone could be better than Mochida. But now she saw it, she was going to pay more attention to it, she liked this side of Yoshiki Kishinuma…

* * *

They sat down on the blue blanket Yoshiki had set out on the grass. The park was packed, but they had managed to find a relatively quiet part, far away from the stage that had been set up for an impromptu concert that Yoshiki swore he didn't know about. However, the blanket was still close enough to hear the opening acts playing quietly in the background. Yoshiki, though he was telling the truth when Ayumi had asked him if he had planned this, didn't see how this could have gone any better.

"Lemonade?" Yoshiki asked, producing a bottle of the drink in question. Ayumi smiled and frowned at the same time.

"You even brought lemonade?" she asked, holding up the yogurt she held in her hand for effect. Yoshiki pretended to look offended.

"Hey, I'm the king of picnics," he joked. Ayumi smiled, sensing her chance to tease Yoshiki.

"So you take people on picnics often," she sighed looking away. The smile she held back threatened to break free. Yoshiki saw through the ruse.

"Yes, I'd say you're the forty-ninth person at least to have a picnic with me," he laughed.

"Not the fiftieth?" Ayumi continued.

"Nope," Yoshiki made a popping noise on the p.

"Not the fifty-first?"

"Nope."

"Not the… first?" Ayumi smiled slyly when Yoshiki just looked away, somewhat bashfully.

"Oh, so I am the first person to know of your picnicking kingship?" Ayumi laughed, the laugh stopping short in her mouth when Yoshiki turned to her, a serious expression on his face, and said two little words that somehow held so much power.

"Of course," he whispered. Ayumi turned away.

"In our class, I'd say that Mochida would be the King," Ayumi said confidently, not noticing how Yoshiki's fist clenched and his jaw locked. He couldn't handle it when Ayumi compared him to Satoshi. A silly part of him had been sure that her feelings towards Satoshi had gone, and an even sillier part of him thought that maybe she was getting closer to him, after all, she had agreed to go on a date with him today. Did she think of it as a date? Did he need to make it clearer?

"But you're my knight," Ayumi finished, using a veil of her blue hair to cover her blushing face. She had never felt this nervous around Satoshi!

Yoshiki's eyes widened at what he heard, unsure if he hadn't really survived Heavenly Host, and instead, this was all a big dream he had upon death. Never in a million years had he thought that someday he would be sat next to Ayumi, hearing such kind words, words that weren't designed to hurt him, come from her lips, lips he had kissed!

Ayumi nibbled the sandwich in her hand and looked forward at the band that was leaving the stage. People on the picnic blankets were beginning to stand up and look generally more excited. From what Ayumi could tell, the main event, or at least a more well-known band was coming on.

"Come on, do you want to go see the concert properly?" Ayumi asked, still refusing to look at Yoshiki. He nodded and put everything back into the basket, hurrying after Ayumi as she walked quickly ahead without him. She could see people cheering and people waving banners around, with the words 'UxMishi' on it. Ayumi assumed that it was the name of the band. With Yoshiki beside her, she stopped running, but he didn't, overshooting and almost running into the people in front, earning a little laugh from Ayumi.

The two looked up at the stage and morphed into a comfortable silence; the kind of silence that was not there from lack of things to day but from the fact that they had said what they wanted to say. The first few lines of the song began to play. She watched a group of teenagers sing some indie song about love or something. To be honest, it wasn't very good, but the people around her seemed to be going crazy. It was an okay melody, she guessed, but she didn't really know anything about music. Yoshiki, however, could play the guitar like it was a language he was fluent in, and could hear every note and chord, instantly comparing the chord progression to others he had heard before. Pff, he thought, I could play that!

After about three songs, full of catchy tunes and meaningless lyrics, Yoshiki turned to Ayumi and asked her if she wanted to leave.

"Oh my god, yes!" she sighed, unconsciously grabbing onto Yoshiki's hand, like she had so many times in Heavenly Host, and pulling him forward.

"Shi – Shinozaki?" Yoshiki breathed, her sudden contact causing his heart to begin to race uncontrollably. He cursed himself for acting like a love-struck girl!

Ayumi didn't notice, she just wanted to get away from the band, UxMishi, as fast as humanly possible. It was only when she felt Yoshiki squeeze her hand affectionately that she realized what she had done. She turned to look up at him, only to see him looking back at her with an unreadable expression painted across his face. Ayumi's heart fluttered in her chest and she cursed herself, she couldn't become the stereotype love-struck girl!

He held tightly onto her hand, surprised when she looked back up at him. She didn't look scared, but there was a hint of surprise, maybe? Slowly, she let go of his hand but she continued to look up at him, even when she felt her hand feel considerably cooler, something she did not like. But yet she still did not reach back out for his hand. It was a test, of sorts, to see if Yoshiki could do it, initiate the contact they both craved. Ayumi of course knew that he could, but she just wanted, no she needed him to hold her hand again. She wanted him to do it willingly, prove to her that he could be sweet, even if she knew he could be anyway.

Yoshiki felt her grip loosen and immediately wished she hadn't let go. His hand felt cold and empty without Ayumi's hand holding onto him. She looked at him questioningly, and he could tell that she was testing him, he had memorised what every expression of hers meant and how to calm it, but this time he had two options. The test was to see if he would hold her hand himself, but what he did not know is what answer she wanted.

So he threw caution to the wind and walked towards her, almost walking past her but gently grasping onto her slightly outstretched hand as he moved past.

Ayumi was a little shocked but as Yoshiki pulled her forward, to where she did not know, she allowed herself a smile, a breath-taking smile that Yoshiki surely would have taken her breath through kisses for if he had not been too scared to turn to face her. Sometimes she was just too cute for her own good…

"So, so you want to go see something at the cinema?" Yoshiki asked, a smile playing at his lips as Ayumi nodded out of the corner of his eye. He was just glad he hadn't failed the test she had given him.

"I… think I'll be fine with the horror movie," Ayumi said quietly, surprising Yoshiki.

"Are you sure? We can find something else," Yoshiki insisted, for her sake, he would have been fine no matter what. Sure, his friend's deaths had upset him, more than even he could believe, but he was sensible and level headed despite his quick temper, and knew that all of his friends would not want the experience to ruin their lives. Suzumoto, Shinohara, Ms Yui and Morishige would live on through the five survivors, so the survivors should make their lives as lived as possible.

"No, I think I understand what they would want," Ayumi almost whispered.

"They'd want us to be happy," Yoshiki said, "But if the movie will scare you, that's fine with me. You don't always have to be tough, class rep."

"I've been scared enough to last me a lifetime, I'm sure nothing else will affect me the same way it used to now."

* * *

By the time they got to the cinema, the sun was dipping slightly lower in the blue sky, melting the ice blue water into warm orange pools, pink streaks beginning to stretch over, moulding the world into its own new shape. It was that beautiful part of time before a sunset, and Yoshiki couldn't help but compare the calm, warm beauty of a sunset to Ayumi, with her dark hair and striking eyes, short stature and pale skin, all childlike smiles and sharp observations. He couldn't help but ignore the sunset, as cliché as it sounded, while Ayumi stood beside him in line to get a ticket.

"That will be 710 yen per ticket, thank you!" the woman at the front desk stated chirpily as the couple in front of Yoshiki paid and then preceded to walk away, a sign for him and Ayumi to walk forward.

"Two tickets for As above, So below, please," Ayumi asked producing money from her purse. Yoshiki acted like a gentleman and pulled Ayumi's hand back, giving the woman at the desk 1420 yen. It was money that he had saved up from his job for a rainy day, or a special occasion like his first date with Ayumi.

She was undoubtedly shocked that he had so much on him, especially since he accidently gave the woman too much by at least 1000 yen! She was a little annoyed that he would spend so much on her. He had told her that he lived alone and would surely need all of that money to pay bills or buy food, so why would he spend it on her? Ayumi didn't deserve it!

"At least let me pay for something!" Ayumi whispered angrily as the woman at the desk handed them the tickets and directed them to the screen they needed to go to. Yoshiki simply looked at her with a frown.

"No," he said purely, turning over to go buy some drinks from the food area. Ayumi practically fumed.

"You shouldn't spend your money on me! You need it," Ayumi angrily stated, a little louder than before.

"Well I'm not giving you a choice," Yoshiki started, turning to face Ayumi, a sly smile on his lips. She almost ran into him when he stopped suddenly and turned to her. Her face was very close to his as she looked up.

"Besides," he carried on, leaning closer, "The gentleman always pay, aren't we on a date?"

Ayumi's face, previously red from anger, lightened but only to an embarrassed shade of pink. A date? He was saying it was a date? Why did she feel so happy at this? She had basically known it anyway so why did him pointing it out make her heartbeat quicken and her breath hitch. Ayumi nodded passionately, earning a confident smirk from Yoshiki. Unknowingly, she was gradually boosting his confidence when he was around her. Now he could get as close to her as he wanted and… she wasn't screaming at him, like she would have before. Maybe Heavenly Host has changed her feelings or maybe this is a way to cope with losing Satoshi, he thought. Until he realized that he didn't care.

"Do you want to get some popcorn?" Yoshiki asked, leading Ayumi over to the popcorn place.

"And a coke?" Ayumi asked with a nod. Yoshiki smiled knowing that she was at least comfortable enough to ignore her own pride and let him buy her something.

The pair bought a large popcorn and a large coke, to share after Ayumi's request, and wandered over to screen four, where their movie would be playing in the next five minutes. After about an hour of adverts of course! Unfortunately, the cinemas was packed, and there was about four large groups of nine or ten all at the front of the room. Ayumi spotted two seats at the very back of the room, in a dark corner that people seemed to be avoiding.

"Are you sure? People don't seem to like that area?" Yoshiki asked her. Ayumi debated this before shrugging and walking up the steps to the seats she had pointed out.

"It's the only two seats I can see, hurry up!" Ayumi answered as she rushed up the small staircase to the selected area. She couldn't see why it was avoided, it was a nice little space with a tiny table and an unlit candle, and up-close it wasn't even that dark. As Yoshiki sat on the seat closest to the wall, Ayumi had an idea.

"Do you mind if I do something?" she asked with a shy smile. Curious, Yoshiki agreed to let her do it, and was nothing if not surprised when she produced some matches from her purse.

"I'm not even going to ask why you have that," he commented with a small chuckle.

Ayumi glared at him and lit the candle in the centre of the table, blowing out the match and putting it in a nearby bin, just as the film began, and just as their luck cashed in and led to a glitch that skipped the ads.

"Thank goodness!" Ayumi whispered, taking a seat next to Yoshiki.

About fifteen minutes into the film, the candle on the table, that had managed to light up the area around them, was hit by an unexpected gust of cool air. The candle burnt out suddenly and made Ayumi jump. Yoshiki, spotting his chance, pretended to yawn and wrapped his arm around the back of Ayumi's seat. He heard her sigh.

"Such a cliché," she muttered, but she still leant on Yoshiki's outstretched arm, smiling as she went.

A little while later, something scary happened in the film and Ayumi flinched. She buried her head into Yoshiki's shoulder and felt him freeze, but she ignored it. Something had reminded her of that… hell and she was trying so hard not to think about it, not to picture it in her head as Mayu's body splattered against the –

"Shinozaki, do you want to leave?" Yoshiki murmured, quiet enough for just her to hear. Ayumi paused, seriously considering her options. She was just about to answer when she felt Yoshiki sigh and turn towards her, wrapping his other arm around her petite form and resting his chin on her head.

"I… don't mind staying for a little longer," Ayumi whispered quietly, her arms already stretching to hold onto Yoshiki, before she fell from this heaven she had found herself in. They must have sat like that, just enjoying the peace they felt together, surrounded by horror that they happily ignored, for at least half an hour, before Ayumi felt herself want to fall asleep and forced herself to turn her head, at the exact right moment for a jump scare. Again, she felt flashbacks of that place raid her mind so she tugged on Yoshiki's arm and pulled him up, leaving their drinks and popcorn behind. Yoshiki didn't question her.

* * *

**UxMishi? Anyone? If you get it, leave a review and spread the word about the best anime to ever exist!**


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